Rachel Reeves: This question and the answers to it really matter because our frontline workers were not adequately protected with the high-quality PPE that they needed during the pandemic. They matter because it is essential that taxpayers’ money is spent effectively and fairly, not handed out to those who happen to have close links with the party of government.
The Government ran down the PPE stockpile ahead of the pandemic, and that came back to haunt us when we needed it most. Contracts were handed out—many to friends and owners linked to the Conservative party—  without any transparency. The Good Law Project took the Government to court, and on 19 February the High Court ruled that the Government had acted unlawfully, saying:
“The public were entitled to see who this money was going to, what it was being spent on and how the…contracts were awarded.”
Three days later, in this House, the Prime Minister said that
“the contracts are there on the record for everybody to see”—[Official Report, 22 February 2021; Vol. 689, c. 638.]
But they are not. A judge confirmed through a court order last Friday that 100 contracts are still to be published. Will the Minister now take this opportunity to apologise for that statement and to put the record straight? Will the Government now finally agree to publish all 100 outstanding contracts by the end of this week?
For contracts that have failed, will the Minister tell us how much money has been and will be clawed back for taxpayers? Can he tell us which businesses were in the VIP fast lane for getting Government contracts and how they got there? Finally, can he honestly tell our brilliant NHS nurses, now facing a pay cut, that the Government have not wasted a single penny of their money on this curious incident of the missing contracts?

Resolved,
That—
(1) Section 19 of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 (rebates of vehicle excise duty) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (3A) for “subsection (3B)” substitute “subsections (3B) and (3C)”.
(3) After subsection (3B) insert—
“(3C) Where the annual rate of duty chargeable on a vehicle licence at the time when it was taken out is determined in accordance with paragraph 1GE(2) of Schedule 1 (higher rates of duty: vehicles with a price exceeding £40,000) the relevant amount is given by—
(H x R) + (L x P) / 12
where—
H is the annual rate of duty chargeable on the licence at the time when it was taken out;
R is the number of complete months (if any) of that part of the of the currency of the licence which is unexpired—
(a) in respect of which the rebate condition is satisfied, and
(b) which are within the period of six years beginning with the day of registration;
L is the annual rate of duty that would have been chargeable on the licence at the time when it was taken out if that time had been after the period of six years beginning with the day of registration;
P is the number of complete months (if any) of that part of the of the currency of the licence which is unexpired—
(a) in respect of which the rebate condition is satisfied, and
(b) which are not within R.
(3D) In subsection (3C) the “day of registration” means the day on which the vehicle in respect of which the licence is in force was first registered under this Act or under the law of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom.”
(4) The amendments made by this Resolution have effect in relation to cases where a rebate condition (within the meaning of section 19 of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994) is satisfied on or after 1 April 2021.
And it is declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution should have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1968.